so it’s interesting in terms of

what we’re now seeing in spousal support

is a stabilization

of how to compute or approach support

because just a couple of years ago i

believe it was effective

january 1 2019 so with the 2019 tax year

the tax law changed so prior to that

year

spousal support was deductible to the

paying spouse

but was almost earned income it was

taxable income to the spouse who

received the support so the entire

divorce community or the divorce

industry lawyers judges accountants

when we computed spousal support it was

always with the understanding that the

person who paid support would get a

deduction for that and the person who

received support would receive less

dollars in pocket because it was taxable

and in 2019 that changed so the person

paying alimony no longer received a

deduction for it the person receiving

alimony received it in total net dollars

and that created discrepancy across the

state of new jersey because no one

really knew

how we should adjust

our approach to computing alimony now

that this tax component changed in such

a significant way

and here at our firm we really practice

from

you know up in bergen county down to

atlantic county and you saw changes or

discrepancies in the entire state the

way that mediators and judges were

approaching

the computation of alimony up in bergen

county was completely different than how

they were doing it in central jersey and

south jersey and in western parts of new

jersey

and what we’re seeing now that

this tax formula has been

in place for now three years is a

stabilization and more more harmony

within the state so it’s much easier for

those of us who do practice in many

different counties to understand where

the numbers are going to fall out so

that is a very welcome development

within the alimony world